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Sunday, 27 July 2014

I never intended on purchasing this box, so I never did until it was shipped out and I saw the photos of what was inside this box! I had a few points to use up, and I also used a discount code, so I went to purchase this box since so many people highly recommended it...and I'm so glad I did!!!

Memebox Superbox #30 Aloe Vera

Please check out the latest Exclusive Deals from Memebox in my previous posts!!!

Being obsessed with pore care, I've purchased the Pore Care #1 and the Pore Care #2, so I definitely had to get the Pore Care #3 Box too, and it surely didn't disappoint!!!

Memebox Superbox #36 Pore Care #3

With SIX full sized products in this box, I was definitely more impressed about this box over the Dermocosmetics #2 Box!! Although I probably won't be using the Blackhead Remover, the other products definitely made up for it!! For the same price as the Dermo2 Box, I'd definitely pick this one!! In fact, I think I like this version of the Pore Care Box more than the previous Pore Care Boxes too!!!Personal rating of the previous Pore Care Boxes:Superbox #13 Pore Care: 7/10Superbox #22 Pore Care #2: 6/10Superbox #36 Pore Care #3: 8.5/10Please check out the latest Exclusive Deals from Memebox in my previous posts!!!

I received not one, not two, but THREE Memeboxes today!!! Here is the first one...

Memebox Superbox #34 Dermocosmetics #2

This was an okay box for me, but not my favourite!! I would've expected more larger sized products from this box due to the price ($39 + shipping), and not just one-off acne and peeling pads, but it was great to finally see a 200ml-sized toner inside my box!!Please check out the latest Exclusive Deals from Memebox in my previous posts!!!

Again, I am very impressed with this box, as it contained a variety of products, and also a lot of brands/products that I had not heard of before! I will be using EVERYTHING inside this box, so do watch out for any reviews that I will be making later!!!

Monday, 21 July 2014

I usually do reviews on beauty and skincare, but today I'll be reviewing a restaurant that I visited last Friday...

18巷泰國餐廳 Soi 18 Thai Cuisine

This restaurant opened recently, and is located in the heart of Causeway Bay, at the World Trade Centre. You have to take the lift up to the 13th floor, and by the way, the "button" that you press for the lift is actually pretty cool - you have to put your whole palm over it to for it to light up! There are two restaurants on the 13th floor - Soi 18 and Gyuuzen Japanese Restaurant, both owned by the same people, but they have completely different atmospheres inside!! Since I'm pregnant and I can't eat sashimi, and I somehow don't like the taste of beef anymore, we chose to eat at Soi 18 this time, but we'll definitely be back to try out the Japanese Restaurant later!!

As you walk into the restaurant, the waiters will all greet you with "Sawadee ka" or "Sawadee krap", and most of the staff there are really from Thailand (but they can all speak Cantonese, since they have been living in Hong Kong for so many years)!! The ambience inside is quite warm and relaxing, and it's a great place for gatherings! Since we had a group of five, we were placed in one of the tables in the far end of the room, so we could have some privacy! The hanging lights were quite nice, but they did hang quite low, and even I had to be careful when standing up, in case I banged my head, and I'm 168cm!

The decorations on the sides of the restaurant are quite simple yet pretty - my favourite hot pink!!!

The ambience is great, but how about the food? Since they just opened recently, they only have a temporary menu, but the waiters and waitresses were very helpful in recommending dishes!! Instead of water, we were given a kind of Thai Tea, which reminded me of the spiced tea we had in India, and I really like that taste!! I saw that they had a Thai Ginger Tea and was going to order that, but the waitress pointed out that it's quite spicy, and that the Lemongrass Tea would be a better option for me, so I ordered that instead. Sorry, I didn't take a photo of it, but it came in a small tea pot, and it had a lot of lemongrass inside!! It was a nice experience, but I still preferred the Thai Tea more!

For our starters, we ordered the Raw Prawns with Thai Chillies, but I couldn't eat it since it's RAW, but hubby and his friends finished it in no time!

We also ordered the Thai Style Grilled Pork Neck, which came with a small container of glutinous rice. The grilled pork neck was slightly too dry for my liking, but the glutinous rice tasted quite nice with the sauce (though the rice was quite hard to spoon out of the container, and the sauce was actually quite spicy for me).

Next came the Tom Yum Soup, which was surprisingly yummy! I'm usually not a fan of Tom Yum Soup, because they're usually quite spicy, but we were able to have it non-spicy, and there were a lot of prawns inside too!! Apparently if we had ordered the spicy version, the Tom Yum Soup would be made with fish instead.

This was recommended by the staff as the "Dish of the Day" - Claypot Glass Vermicelli with Crab!! Again, I couldn't try the crab, but I did have a taste of the vermicelli which was soaked in the juice from the crab - thumbs up for this dish!!!

The Phat Thai was really good, with a lot of added prawns!! The flavour was just right and very appetising, but the only complaint here is that the portion was slightly small for our big stomachs!!

The stir-fried vege was really nice, and since it was placed in front of me, I finished pretty much the whole dish by myself!!

We also ordered the Hainanese Chicken, which was okay, but nothing special.

We also ordered the beef brisket in yellow curry and garlic bread to go with it! The taste of the curry was quite nice and creamy, but there wasn't a lot of brisket pieces inside. The garlic bread was okay, but it would've been nicer if the garlic taste was stronger.

As the portions were relatively small, and we had big eaters on our table, I was still feeling slightly hungry after eating all our mains...so we ordered dessert! This is the Dessert Platter, and I think it was the best part of the entire meal!!!

Our Dessert Platter consisted of:

Mango & Sticky Rice

I couldn't try the mango, but the sticky rice was made perfectly - the rice was chewy, but it wasn't too hard, and it wasn't too sweet either!!

Black Sticky Rice & Sweet Coconut Milk

Again, the rice was chewy but not too hard, and it wasn't too sweet!!

Water Chestnut & Coconut Custard Topping

The topping was very creamy and had a strong coconut flavour, and it had lots of water chestnut and corn inside!! This was so good that I had two!!!

Agar & Young Coconut Jelly

At first I wasn't going to try this, as I'm not a fan of this type of dessert, but I tried it, and it was surprisingly yummy!!! It had a strong young coconut juice flavour (unlike the ones at other places), and I actually wanted more!!!

I was full after eating all the desserts, and it was overall a very satisfying meal!!!

We paid around HKD230 per person for this meal, which is quite reasonable, considering the location, the atmosphere, and the variety of food we ordered!!

The bonus? One of the owners of this restaurant is my sister-in-law, Grace Cheung, the winner of Miss Asia 2007 (do you remember her? I've posted photos of her before on my blog)!! She's at the restaurant on most nights now, so in addition to the nice food, you can also dine with a Miss Asia!!!

Since they are still a new restaurant, they still have a lot of room for improvement, but they are open to suggestions, so feel free to comment, and do give them time to improve!!!

For more information, please visit their pages on Openrice and Facebook:

Saturday, 19 July 2014

I'm sure everyone has heard of the brand, IOPE, since IOPE has proven to be a leader in beauty in not only Korea, but all across the globe! Their products are formulated from state-of-the art technology and years of research and development!

Memebox has come out with two IOPE Boxes just for us!! The two IOPE boxes contain IOPE's famous Essential Skin Boosting Serum, Eye Cream, Relief Cream, Essential Face Oil, Lip and Cheek, and IOPE Air Cushion!!!

Plus, this box has a retail value of over US$325, but you can now get yours at this exclusively low price!!!

This deal is exclusively for the readers of Genie's Favourite Products:

When you purchase the IOPE 1 Box or the IOPE 2 Box, you will receive 10 reward points (equivalent to US$10, which will be saved to your account, so that you can use it to buy anything from the Memebox Website in your next purchase!)

Contents of the IOPE 1 Box:

Contents of the IOPE 2 Box:

Don't miss this chance to try all the skin and beauty benefits that these IOPE Boxes have to offer!!!

Friday, 18 July 2014

I'm sure most of you have realised that I'm a HUGE fan of masks, whether it be wash-off masks, face sheet masks, or sleeping masks!

I personally prefer using paper masks which are made of cotton or cotton blend as opposed to gel masks - I dislike the slimy feeling of the mask when spreading it onto my face with my bare hands, and also because they always seem to slide down my face! I also prefer essence masks over wash-off masks, as it's more convenient, and I like that the essence absorbs into my skin instead of me having to wash the mask off afterwards.I'm usually quite lazy during the winter when it comes to masks, as it feels really cold putting a mask onto my face and leaving it there for so long, but since it's summer now, it's MASK TIME AGAIN!!! For the past month, I have been using masks every night or every second night, and my face is great now (many compliments from my hubby and from friends)!!

I have quite a large collection of masks - some cheap ones and some more expensive ones. I use the more expensive ones usually after I've completed a home facial, and I use the cheaper ones on the other days.

What I look for in a sheet mask:

- The type of material the mask is made out of: paper, cotton, gel

- How much essence is on the mask

- The shape of the mask, whether it covers my face properly

- Whether it will leave a sticky feeling on my face after removing the mask

- How effective the mask is

In this post, I will be reviewing the masks from illi

I first came across this brand when I received the illi Green Tea Brightening Mask from my Memebox Global #11, and I instantly fell in love!!! I then went to buy the other masks from the same brand to see if they were all as great!!!

1) illi Green Tea Brightening Mask

Material: Thick, silky cotton blend, soaked completely in essenceScent: A pleasant flowery scentShape: It's a 2-part mask - the top part covers the forehead, eyes, and nose; the bottom part covers the mouth and chin. The mask covered my face completely, even the sides of my nose (it's really hard to find sheet masks that can cover every bit of my face so well)!!!Effectiveness: After removing the mask, I gently massaged the remaining essence into my skin, and it did absorb quite quickly, so it didn't leave much of a sticky feeling on my face.My face felt hydrated, pores tightened, and I had a smoother complexion, but as for its brightening effects, I'm not so sure.Price: HK$22 per mask (around US$3 per mask)Rating: 9/10 (it would be 10/10, but it's always out of stock and it's so hard to get hold of)!!

2) illi Ginseng Firming Mask

Material: Thin gel-type maskScent: Flowery perfume scentShape: It's a 2-part mask - the top part covers the forehead, eyes and nose; the bottom part covers the mouth and chin. The mask does not cover my nose entirely, and it needed a lot of adjusting for it to be able to cover my face properly. Again, I don't really like gel-type masks, because of the slimy feeling when putting the mask onto my face!Effectiveness: After removing the mask, all the essence had completely absorbed into my skin, but it did leave a slightly sticky feeling on my face. I realised that my pores look slightly smaller, and my skin feels slightly firmer, but my face does feel slightly dry too.Price: HK$22 per mask (around US$3 per mask)Rating: 7/10

3) illi Lotus Moisture Mask

Material: Cotton blend mask, mask not soaking wet in essence

Scent: A super lotus flower scent!!!

Shape: One piece mask with no slits on the edges, shape was okay (the holes for the eyes and mouth weren't too big) but it didn't cover the sides of my nose very well!Effectiveness: The essence absorbed into my face very quickly, and hardly left a sticky feeling, but there wasn't any essence left for me to massage into my face afterwards! It did leave my skin feeling hydrated and moisturised though.

Price: HK$15 per mask (around US$2 per mask)

Rating: 8/10

4) illi Mugwort Calming Mask

Material: Cotton blend mask, mask not soaking wet in essence

Scent: Cannot define the scent, but it's a plant, and the scent made me want to sneeze!

Shape: One piece mask with no slits on the edges, shape was okay (the holes for the eyes and mouth weren't too big) but it didn't cover the sides of my nose very wellEffectiveness: At first, it only made a tingling sensation on my face, but after a while, it made my face feel so itchy that I had to remove the mask within 10 minutes!! I instantly went to wash off the essence with water, then applied a calendula toner to calm my face - this has NEVER happened to me before!!! This was supposed to be a calming mask, but it did everything but calm my face!!!

Price: HK$12 per mask (around US$1.60 per mask)

Rating: 1/10

illi also has a Camellia Oil Intensive Nourishing Mask (retails at HK$12 per mask) which I have yet to try, but it is in the same series as the Lotus Moisture Mask and the Mugwort Calming Mask, so I don't have high hopes for it.

OVERALL VIEW:

I think out of all the masks from illi, I think I would only repurchase the Green Tea Brightening Mask; I thought all the other masks would come in the same material, texture, and shape as the Brightening Mask, but unfortunately, that was not the case. The Ginseng Total Ageing Care Mask was the same price as the Brightening Mask, so I thought they would be of a similar effect, but if I had known that it was a gel-type mask, I would not have purchased it at all! The other masks, although much cheaper, were made of a cheaper material, the shape of the mask did not cover the sides of the nose, and they were not as effective - for the same type of mask, I could've paid for a much lower price!

I have also tried some other products from illi that I love, but I will be talking about them later in my other posts!!

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

I've received so many Memeboxes in the past 2 months, but I had only tried out their skincare products, until recently, I was finally able to try out their makeup products too! I went out for my Maternity Photoshoot with my prenatal yoga buddies last week, and we needed to apply our own makeup, so I was finally able to use some of the products that I had received...

Saturday, 12 July 2014

So tonight, I decided to try/use some of the products inside my Memeboxes...

1) Grinif Nature Oatmeal Scrub Bar (Memebox Special #4 Whole Grain)

I seldom use soap bars, whether for my face or my body, mainly because they are not as convenient as liquid soap, but I gave this a try anyway because it's 100% natural.

It lathered fairly easily, and the scent was not as strong as I anticipated. It did leave my skin feeling slightly dry afterwards, but I did notice that my pores did appear to be slightly smaller! I probably won't repurchase, but I will try to finish the whole bar!

2) Skinmiso Pore Beauty Nose pack (Superbox #11 Before Special Day)

There's no need to talk about the Skinmiso Pore Beauty Nose Pack, because I've already reviewed it here, and it's named as one of our holy grail products!!!

3) Herbclinic Rice Bran Powder (Memebox Special #4 Whole Grain)

Everyone knows I love masks, but I mainly use face sheet masks or sleeping masks (because of the conveniency), but I decided to give this a try today, also because it's 100% natural!

How to use:

Mix up 1 spoonful of the rice bran powder with 1 spoonful of oatmeal, black bean, or brown rice. Add an adequate amount of milk until it is slightly thickened. Apply onto your face and leave for 15-20 minutes before washing it off.

I didn't have any milk at home, so I used New Zealand's Manuka Honey instead, however after mixing it, I realised that it was slightly too thick, so I added in a teeny weeny bit of Jurlique's rosewater to water it up a bit. I also couldn't find any oatmeal at home except for the "Oats for Rice", so I soaked the "Oats for Rice" in hot water for a few minutes before draining it and using it for my mask.

I didn't have a brush at home, so I used my hands to put the mask over my face. The oats started falling off my face, and the honey started dripping - everything became so messy! I also didn't like how everything became so sticky on my hands and legs (it dripped onto my legs and clothes too). I'm so glad I was applying it while I was in the toilet, otherwise I would be attracting cockroaches and ants into my room! To avoid the honey and oats dripping everywhere, I had to put toilet paper all over my face...

OMG I FEEL SO BRAVE PUTTING THIS PHOTO UP!!!

After looking like an Egyptian Mummy for 15 minutes (I couldn't stand it any longer, and I'm so glad hubby wasn't home to see this!), I wiped the oats off my face with tissue, and I washed off the mask with warm water using my cleansing sponge. I did realise my face to feel a lot smoother, but it was definitely a very messy experience - I think that's why they suggested using milk (although it would still be quite messy with oatmeal/black beans/brown rice dropping off)! If I were to use it again, I'd need a lot of time and patience, because unlike face sheet masks, I can't walk around or do anything else without the mask dripping off my face!

4) Whamisa Organic Flowers Toner Original (purchased from Memeshop)

I purchased this toner because again, it's natural! It is a spray-on toner, and it absorbs very quickly into the skin! I love the smell, and it's very hydrating!

Although it's named as an essence on the bottle, it is actually more of a serum, and that's how I've been using it as. I've been using this for a few days now, but I haven't seen any obvious whitening results yet. It doesn't absorb instantly, so it does leave a slight sticky feeling on my face afterwards, but I will continue to use up the whole bottle.

6) WondeRuci Light Light Eye Balm (purchased from Memeshop)

This has a very interesting texture - it feels dry and almost crumbly, but once you warm it up with your fingers, it becomes very silky and smooth, and it's very easy to apply. It didn't seem to do much by itself, but when I use it with my Purederm Botanical Choice Pure Solution Eye Cream, I have realised that my dark circles have instantly become lighter when I wake up in the morning! I only use this at night, as it doesn't blend in too well with some of my skincare products for the daytime. It is faintly scented, and it doesn't irritate my skin!

This eye cream doesn't do much by itself, but when used with my WondeRuci Light Light Eye Balm, I have noticed that my dark circles have significantly become lighter when I wake up in the morning - it's amazing because I've tried so many other eye creams, and nothing does the trick! The other good thing about this eye cream is that it comes in a huge 30ml tube, and it really does last a long time!!!

8) SNP Pore Contraction Whitening Gel Cream (Superbox #13 Pore Care)

This is in the form of a gel cream, and it absorbs very quickly into the skin! There is a citrus scent, but it's very relaxing and soothing! I have realised that it helps to soothe irritated skin, as well as tighten pores! It's also very hydrating and easy to use - perfect for the summer months!

In case you're interested, other than the aforementioned products, I also used these in my skincare regime today:

Thursday, 10 July 2014

The Memebox Luckybox #5 was the FIRST box I bought from Memebox, and it got me addicted to Memebox! Two months later, I received another Luckybox...

MEMEBOX LUCKYBOX #6

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with this box, as I get to try many of the products that were featured inside previous Memeboxes and Luckyboxes, but I just didn't like the dupes I received (I know I would receive dupes, but I was just secretly hoping for the Tea Tree Essence by LGH or the Body Lotion by illi instead)!

There have recently been contamination issues with certain Benton products, particularly in their Snail Bee Essence, where many people have reported actual green mould-like substance in their bottle, and it HAS shown to cause very bad breakouts and reactions in people. Others have reported issues with Benton's ALoe BHA line. The manufacturing date on these products is March 5th, 2014.

Benton says that the Snail Bee Essence was the only product involved, but given that they use the same manufacturing facilities for many of their products, it is strongly advised to patch test your product very carefully on a small section of your skin, such as the back of your hand, before using on your face!

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About Me

Hi, my name's Eugenie, but it's Genie for short, and I love trying out different skincare products from different brands. I'm 27 years old and I started using skincare products when I was 14 years old, and throughout time, I have tried out more than 50 different brands of skincare products. I, myself, like to read reviews on products before deciding whether to purchase, so here, I would like to share with you my previous experiences on things I like or don't like. Enjoy reading! :D